The airport is “ramping up” its operations.
The Dublin Airport Authority (daa) has said that no passengers missed their flights due to long queues over the bank holiday weekend.
On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Ireland’s Minister of Sate at the Department of Transport Hildegarde Naughton repeated a claim made by the daa which signalled that the situation at Dublin Airport is improving.
Minister Naughton said: “This is not just about this weekend, I am asking the daa to do whatever it takes to ensure that the summer months ahead are a success for the travelling public, as passenger numbers continue to increase.”
With 51,000 passengers passing through the airport, Friday was the busiest day of the year there.
Graeme McQueen, who is the Media Relations Manager for daa, described the weekend situation at Dublin Airport as “busy but smooth”. Mr McQueen added that the queues were “moving well” through the terminals, and that security screening times did not exceed 6o minutes over the weekend, which is a marked improvement on the previous weekend.
Another very busy day with over 49,000 passengers expected to depart @DublinAirport today & 52,000 forecast to arrive. Security, Bag Drop & Airline Check-In areas while busy have been free flowing for early morning departures. pic.twitter.com/J4Vaty3M2W
— Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) June 6, 2022
After over 1,000 passengers missed flights due to queues during the last weekend in May, the daa have changed strategies and added more staff to prevent this in the future.
According to Minister Naughton, the daa are “ramping up” resourcing in the airport, with 30 new staff members being hired every week. The end of June will see the addition of 370 new staff members, and in July the total number of staff at Dublin Airport will be 821.
That figure is set to rise again to 920 at the end of July, which brings staffing levels above what they were in pre-pandemic times.
The advice for passengers remains to arrive two-and-a-half hours early for a short haul flight, and three-and-a-half hours early for a long haul flight. However, passengers should give themselves an extra hour if they need to avail of the bag drop-off.
Feature image: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie
Facebook split images: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie
